Maize 🌽 in European languages.
by u/porredgy
You can clearly see how the crop spread throughout Europe in two different directions: one through the Spaniards, who were the first to introduce the maize to the Old World, and the other through the Ottomans. But curiously, the word broadly used in Eastern Europe to refer to maize, which is presumably of Ottoman origin, has been dropped in Turkey for misir, “Egypt”, and this adds more information about the route that the maize took after its introduction. Also, besides the two main terms shown in this map, there are a tone of other local words that I couldn’t cover, although I tried to include as many as possible, and many of them are country-related terms and they refer to those who were believed to be the first to introduce the crop in that specific area (see Catalan blat de moro, Italian granoturco, Greek aravósitos) but they also refer to where the locals believed it came from (Irish Indian corn, which sounds more like something exotic rather than referring to its actual source). One thing that buffles me is Maltese “wheat of the Romans”, as long as ir-Rum really means that and not something else. But what caught my eye was definitely the Balkans, which stand out with a very rich vocabulary regarding maize (Bulgarian has minimum 10 other ways of calling it), and for the same reason also Italy. This shows the huge importance that this single crop had in the past local agricolture, serving for a long time as the only sustenance for many households because of its resistance and profitability. Thanks America!